| Occurrence of canine heartworm disease on three breeding farms in the vicinity of Seoul, Korea |
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Young-woo Seo1, Sung-shik Shin1, Jong-taek Kim2 |
1Division of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonnam National University
2Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Kangwon National University |
| 수도권 일대 집단 번식농장 사육견에서의 개심장사상충 감염실태 |
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서영우1, 신성식1, 김종택2 |
1전남대학교 수의과대학 기생충학교실
2강원대학교 축산대학 부속동물병원 |
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| Abstract |
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Dirofilaria immitis parasitizes mainly in the pulmonary arteries and in the heart of dogs and cats. The parasite is also of public health importance, because it often elicits nodules in the pulmonary parenchyma and in the subcutaneous tissues, or sometimes parasitize itself in the eyes of human. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of heartworm infection among 165 dogs on three breeding farms in the vicinity of Seoul, Korea. Of 165 dogs, 83 dogs (50.3%) were infected with the parasite, as revealed by an antigen-detecting test using the peripheral blood. Of these, 23 dogs (20.2%) contained microfilaria using the peripheral blood, which are potential source of transmission to uninfected animals and to humans in the endemic area. None of infected dogs showed any clinical signs associated with the disease. Since the three farms were located in the vicinity of Seoul, the unexpectedly high infection rate could imply that the possibility of exposure of both animals and humans living in the metropolitan Seoul area to the parasite is higher than in the other area of Korea. |
| Key Words:
Dirofilaria immitis, dog, public health, Seoul, prevalence, microfilaria |
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